On another thread, I was accused of holding Christians to a higher standard.

And, in fact, I do.

I think "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven" is a cop out. I think that Christians who "settle" for being nasty, spiteful, vindictive individuals on the hope that a prayer they said at 12 at a church camp will save them are in for a HUGE disappointment.

See, the Christian life isn't about going to church on Sunday. It's not about dropping money in the collection plate, spouting Bible verses or pontificating on whether the latest disaster du jour was God's wrath poured out on the population. It's about a LIFESTYLE, a CHANGE, about being a new creature. And it's not an easy walk.

Time after time I've seen Christians look flabbergasted when they realize nonChristians are looking at them for an example, when the truth is, that's where they SHOULD be looking. One of the saddest indictments on our society is that the church has abandoned the very people who need them most. So many churchgoers have their bags packed and are waiting on the roof, sporting bumper stickers that say "in case of rapture, this car (truck) will be unmanned", while forgetting that there is a world that NEEDS them, and needs them badly.

If a church isn't willing to offer up a seat to a drunken bum who walks in on Sunday morning hoping he's spent his last morning waking up face down in the gutter, they have no claim to be an evangelical church. If a church won't open their hearts to someone in an impure relationship who is desperately looking to find something to fill the massive chasm in their hearts, the love of God is not in them. Christianity is not about change, it is about RADICAL change. Radical, complete, seriously uncomfortable change.

There are times when we encounter people who offend us so highly we can't muster a kind word. And yet that is precisely why we should. We're CHRISTIANS, after all, we serve a great God, and our life should somehow bear witness.

And before I get accused of being a hypocrite, let me assure you, I'm not. I'm writing these words precisely BECAUSE I'm not. Because I know I have a greater inheritance, but continually fail to claim it. Because I know that I should be more than what I am.

But through the years, I have looked for people who will journey with me and found noone. Noone who WANTS better. Noone who WANTS more. People who are perfectly content with lives of misery, with backbiting, backstabbing, and altogether nastiness.

The first church I attended as a Christian was a wonderful fellowship. A true body of believers who worshipped as a family and tried to offer a home to the homeless and to nurture and grow Christians. It's taken me a lot of years to truly appreciate what I had back then.

I have heard a nonChristian say that one of his arguments against the church is that Christians aren't leading the kind of lives that the Bible says they CAN. If they were, he stated, their arguments would be more compelling. And over time, I have to conclude he's right. Where is the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? The kind of things that should evidence the Holy Spirit's presence. If we don't have them, man, what claim do we have to be Christian?

The truth is, I DO hold Christians to a higher standard. And so should EVERY Christian. We're children of the King. It's time we ACT like it!